1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to unit-dose medication dispensers and more particularly to reusable medication dispensers that can contain a blister pack of unit doses.
2. Brief description of the prior art
Administration of prescribed medication in correct dosage and at the prescribed times is a serious responsibility of medical professionals entrusted with the care of patients. Particularly in an institutional setting, such as a hospital or nursing home, where medications have to be administered to many patients several times a day over a period of days, weeks, months, or even years, the organization and control of medication dispensing is an important and time-consuming element of patient care.
In order to assist the caregiver and decrease the likelihood of errors in administration of medication, it has become conventional to prepackage the individual unit doses of a course of medication, e.g., tablets, capsules and the like (hereinafter referred to generally as "pills"), in multi-chambered boxes wherein the individual compartments can be separately opened in succession for administration at the appropriate times. To further simplify the process, a course of unit doses is often prepared in a central pharmacy in blister packs. Such packs are prepared from arrays of blisters thermoformed on a thin plastic sheet substrate. Individual unit doses are placed in each blister and sealed therein by laminating a foil or paper layer to the substrate sheet to cover and seal the bottoms of the blisters. The blisters are easily deformable to expel a unit dose through the frangible seal into a container such as a medicine cup.
However, in order to assure that each patient receives the proper medication, the blister pack must be marked with appropriate information, e.g., patient's name, drug name, dose, frequency and/or time of administration and the like. Furthermore, the blister packs are somewhat fragile and can be damaged by the handling to which they are necessarily subjected over the course of the medication, e.g., over a period of a week. In order to protect the blister pack and mark it with the relevant dispensing information various reusable containers have been developed which can accept a blister pack together with a label containing dispensing information.
Inasmuch as a patient may be receiving more than one medication at a time it is also important to provide a system for organizing the several different unit doses according to time of administration. To this end various boxes, drawers and the like have been used to hold and organize the medication dispensers for each drug being administered. Certain medication organizing systems have also been marketed wherein medication dispensers holding a course of a particular drug are fitted into a frame which can hold the medication dispensers for all drugs being administered at one time. Such frames also permit incorporation of several one-week medication dispensers in order to set up a course of medication of several weeks duration.
A medication dispenser using blister packs is disclosed in the inventor's prior patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,984. That medication dispenser comprises a blister pack receiving frame having apertures through which the blisters of the blister pack protrude, a bottom plate that supports the blister pack and confines it in contact with the receiving frame, and a hinged cover which covers the blister pack when in closed position and provides a location for a label containing patient and medication information. The medication dispenser of U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,984, however, because it entirely encloses the blister pack, does not permit the supply of unit doses to be checked without opening the dispenser. This dispenser is not adapted to be fitted into a frame for holding multiple dispensers to provide for convenient administration of a number of drugs at the same time.
Another medication dispenser adapted for use with blister packs is illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9. In this prior art dispenser, the blister pack is confined between a receiving frame 502 and a bottom plate 504, with the blisters 508 protruding through apertures 510 in the receiving frame. The receiving frame 502 and bottom plate 504 are connected by a hinge 506. The bottom plate 504 is provided with dispensing apertures 512 through which the unit dose is expelled from the blister. Instead of a cover, this dispenser is provided with longitudinal walls 514 on the receiving frame 502 and a transverse wall 516 on the bottom plate to give the dispenser its necessary rigidity. The patient and drug information is supplied on a label 518 affixed to the exterior surface of one of the walls, e.g., the transverse wall as shown. In this medication dispenser the upper surface of the blister pack is open to view and the medication supply can be readily checked. However, the patient information label can only be conveniently checked by viewing from a different angle. This dispenser also has no special adaptation for holding a number of the dispensers in a medication organizing frame.
Other medication dispensing systems for containing blister packs have been developed in which a week's supply of medication, contained in a linear blister pack, is inserted into an elongated, narrow box having top and bottom apertures in register with the seven blisters. The box is extended beyond the seven daily apertures to provide a top surface for affixing a label with patient identification and dispensing information. This section of the box also accommodates the conventional eighth unit dose provided as a spare in the blister pack. A number of the elongated boxes are inserted lengthwise into channels in a flat, box-like frame having apertures in its top and bottom designed to register with the apertures in the elongated boxes. Evidently, a construction which either increases the area occupied by the medication dispenser or conceals even a spare unit dose blister represents a design compromise. Furthermore, in such a design wherein the long medication dispensing boxes have to slide along the bottom of the frame, the torn flaps produced when the blister seals are broken can protrude through the bottom apertures and interfere with the smooth removal of the long boxes from the frame.
Accordingly, a need has continued to exist for a medication dispenser and associated organization system that will provide convenient loading of blister packs, permit easy inspection of the contents of the blister packs and convenient display of patient information, and be easily organized into frames that hold a plurality of such medication dispensers.